New talkback show hits airwaves

Melbourne's latest talk radio station has debuted this morning with a predictable mix of fear-mongering and bureaucracy bashing as it makes its pitch for the heart and mind of the ''outraged of Melbourne''.

''Morning Melbourne, it's great to be back,'' said Steve Price when he became the first live-to-air announcer on Melbourne Talk Radio at 6:05am. ''This is history in the making.''

By the time Sam Newman started to rail against Muslim women wearing the hijab in Bunnings some listeners may have known just how he felt.

But over its first couple of hours the only thing to trouble the almanacs would have been the fact that the first voice on air was female. It belonged to newsreader Christie Kerr with the station's 6am bulletin.

MTR has only one female program host in its line-up - Deborah Thomas in a lifestyle slot on Sundays.

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''We're glad we're finally here,'' Price said in his inaugural address immediately after the news.

In a clear response to reports that 55 per cent of the new station's content originates in Sydney, Price said ''we're not afraid to use the best content regardless of where it comes from''.

Price's first guest was Olivia Wirth, media spokeswoman for Qantas, confirming that the airline's flights to Europe remained grounded on account of the volcanic ash cloud hovering over the continent.

The aviation crisis was one of the biggest stories of the morning, alongside Kevin Rudd's health-reform plan, Christine Nixon's schedule on Black Saturday, and a news report that claimed the private school fees of the daughter of a convicted murderer were being paid for by the state government.

At 6.15am, a ''James'' from Wantirna became the station's first talkback caller. The only point he wanted to make was that his business, a bakery, was open. For his efforts, he was promised a bottle of wine courtesy of a station sponsor. Not cash for comment, perhaps, but certainly plonk for a plug.

At 6.30am, Melbourne listeners were treated to a guest hook-up from Ray Hadley, Price's former colleague at 2GB in Sydney, which, like MTR, is owned by Macquarie Radio. Hadley was given free rein to swing the boot at KRudd over his handling of insulation, the building revolution and his likely handling of health.

The first of Price's three daily guests was Jason Akermanis. The injured Bulldogs star complained about missing the weekend's game against Brisbane, especially since he'd missed out on visiting his family up north.

Before launch, Price had promised a station that would skew to the right of politics, and he was good to his word.

The half-hourly news bulletins in the early morning led with an entirely parochial story about a home invasion in Essendon in which one of the two invaders was stabbed in the chest by the lady of the house. By 7:30am, a second home invasion was being reported. The pattern was quickly established. Melbourne isn't safe. You're not safe.

After each bulletin, Price delivered a mini-editorial. At 7am, the target was Christine Nixon. ''She failed miserably,'' he said of her performance on Black Saturday. ''As little children burned alive in their parents' cars . . . she didn't even check the messages on her mobile phone.''

He ended his three-minute rant with a demand that ''she should be run out of this town and sent back to Sydney, where she came from''.

How ironic.

Ross Greenwood called in to talk spiralling government debt and superannuation fees after Price had launched an attack on the school fees reportedly being paid by the state government for the daughter of a convicted murderer.

An interview with federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon was an opportunity to kick the administrators. ''Are you attacking those layers upon layers upon layers of bureaucracy?'' Price asked.

''Absolutely,'' Roxon replied, happy to play that game for now. ''We don't want the money skimmed off before it gets to the delivery of health services.''

Andrew Bolt was introduced after 8am. ''Trying to make sense of the day's news,'' the link claimed.

His first position was, not surprisingly, outrage.

''I think it's a disgrace,'' he said of the payment of the school fees of the murderer's daughter. ''The best way to get information from him is to deny him privileges, not to extend his privileges. Tax dollars going to reward a low-life like this, I'm just staggered.''

Over the next half hour, Bolt railed against Rudd's health plan, the government's apparent backflip on asylum seekers (not for the backflip, but for not sticking with the Howard government's position from the outset), and the 2020 ideas summit.

Old news, perhaps, but when Price said ''You were there, weren't you?'' Bolt laughed and replied: ''Don't insult me. I'd rather die in a ditch.''

By the time Sam Newman started to rail against Muslim women wearing the hijab in Bunnings some listeners may have known just how he felt.

Editor's Note: Fairfax Media, the publisher of The Age, also owns Melbourne radio station 3AW.

98 comments

Do we really need this bunch of overweight, overpaid, over opinionated morons dispensing their overbloated egos through pointless blatherings? I think not.

The right wing luvvies would be in raptures, but the rest of sensible Melbourne will be shaking their collective heads in disbelief. MTR? Must stand for Many Talkative Rodents...

Commenter

Scott B

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 9:56AM

Well, it is what it is, unashamedly right wing, at least this keeps them all in one place where we can keep an eye on them, better than having them roam the streets unfettered.

Really, it's just a bunch of silly middle aged old men having a little bit of a rant, they won't last long before they need a cup of tea and a lie down.

Commenter

quack

Location

the pond

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 9:58AM

What else would you expect from a ratbag with little man syndrome. Sydney is well rid of him.

Commenter

reggie

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 10:07AM

Yawn. Aging shock jocks go through the motion. No one cared. Next.

Commenter

Bob

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 10:08AM

I won't be listening.

Commenter

Maxwell Fisk

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 10:09AM

Gee, surprise, surprise The Age having a go at bias in the media - seriously that is a sick joke.

Commenter

Adrian

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 10:18AM

Oh, Karl, you're so paranoid! Are you worried that Fairfax and the ABC now have a competitor?

Just to make you aware, about 49% of the population DON'T bend over to the ratbag left.

Commenter

Will

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 10:26AM

It is about time that there is a genuine competition to Mitchell and co at 3AW, and the lunatic left of the ABC.Steve Vizard is brilliant and listens, not talk over callers because they disagree with him.Steve Price,Bolt and Sam Newman: It does not get any better.Conservatives make up 50% of the vote and it is about time we had a voice.I am sick of listening to the panacea of the left, which sounds great but never works.

Commenter

Jay

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 10:30AM

Could the owners of this station make an impossible-to-refuse offer to Alan Jones to make the move south? Surely the people of NSW have suffered him long enough.

Commenter

eustace

Date and time

April 19, 2010, 10:32AM

I have been a long-time listener to 3MP (my kids used to tell me the MP stood for MenaPause) because it only played old music). I found it relaxing and comforting. This morning I woke up to a whole lot of angry men who spent all the morning yelling at me. Why would they do that? Can anyone suggest a radio station that I can have on in the background with calming middle-of-the-road music? Because I don't want to wake up to the sounds of angry men every morning.

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